After suffering through a week of embarrassingly poor hitting, the offense wasted no time in getting the job done today. A 6-run 1st inning was plenty enough to back Chad Billingsley, as the Dodgers rolled over the Florida Marlins to get at least 1 of the 4 games, 9-1.
The Marlins actually struck first when Luis Gonzalez doubled home Alfredo Amezaga, and it looked like another long day at Chavez Ravine. Thankfully that was not the case, as the offense took advantage of a horrendous start by Andrew Miller to get 3 hits and 3 walks and put the game away early.
The first 6 hitters reached in the 1st, highlighted by a Matt Kemp infield single and steal of 2nd, Nomar Garciaparra's single to right, and James Loney's double to score 2. Andy LaRoche and Luis Maza also picked up RBI's. Oh ya, Andruw Jones picked one up as well... from a bases loaded walk. Way to go! You still suck.
After that, Billingsley was simply awesome, mowing down hitters left and right. He finished at 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 13 K. Wow, that's a huge start. He'd easily be an All-Star if the offense wasn't so anemic and hung 8 losses on him, which is totally unfair. But that's life. With an ERA of 3.25, he's clearly their staff ace right now. That's not too surprising considering he's always had loads of talent, and now he's living up to it.
While the whole lineup did really well, Kemp, Nomar, and Maza were the stars. Kemp was back at leadoff and had a terrific game, going 3-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, 2 SB. It's about damn time he produced in the leadoff spot. Geez. Nomar hasn't done a lick since coming off the DL, but today he was 2-3, R, 2 RBI. Maza started for Jeff Kent and went 2-3, R, RBI. Production up and down the lineup - I like it.
It's a great end to the first half of the season, but it would have been much nicer had they not laid 3 straight eggs before this game. Getting swept at home in a 4-game set would have been awful though, so at least one win is something they'll take. They only gave up 14 runs, or 3.5 a game, but only have 1 win to show for it. That's the Dodgers for ya.
For one day, I'll be happy. Their record is 46-49, obviously not even close to what they envisioned, but thanks to some bad play from the rest of the division, they're only 1 game back of Arizona. It doesn't matter how they get to the playoffs, it's by any means necessary.
The All-Star game is Tuesday night in Yankee Stadium (I guess you all should know that considering it's been beaten into the ground). Russell Martin is the lone representative of the Dodgers. I have no clue how much he'll play since Brian McCann is the other backup, and both men are very much deserving of a few innings. Maybe saving Russ until the end will be cool if the NL ends up winning.
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